'A hot mess': Downtown construction roils Noblesville streets

Conner Street heading into downtown Noblesville is a rough and tumble place right now.

Construction crews with heavy machines have cut deep into the street to replace old, underlying bricks. Large orange and white-striped barriers block crossing at some intersections, with sidewalk access a comparative sliver, rendering the street a gravelly moat.

“Getting around is a problem right now, we’ve had a lot of customers calling asking for the best way to get here,” said Nancy Hernandez, an employee at Adriene’s Flowers & Gifts .

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Adriene’s is one of several businesses along Conner Street, also known as State Road 32, that is along the construction path. It is also the latest in a bucketful of road projects in Hamilton County with traffic-snarling potential this summer.

Officials began closing parts of Conner between 16th and 6th Street on April 1.  The shifting shutdowns will last three months and the Indiana Department of Transportation project will be finished by the end of the year. Street crews are tearing out 100-year-old subsurface brick and replacing the foundation with 12-inches of concrete and 12 inches of asphalt.

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Conner Street between 9th and 14th streets is in the middle of a 45-day closure.

At Bica Café , customers who slide along the pedestrian detours can get a front row view of the construction outside. The European-style breakfast spot and baker on Conner Street, has seen sales slide by $1,000 to $1,500 a week, said manager Anastasija Platonova.

“We’re at the level we were when we first opened two years ago,” Platonova said,

The café relies mainly on customers from the old courthouse located in the center of town square and the Hamilton County Government Center, as well as office workers in their own building and close to it.

But Platonova said some people from farther away might not want to navigate the construction zone.

“We are doing fine; the work is something that needs to be done," she said.

Bica has applied with the city for a $1,000 grant. The Hard Hat Resiliency Grants will provide $33,500 to applicants impacted by State Road 32 construction for $1,000, $750 and $500 grants, said Robert Herrington, a city spokesman.

Adriene’s has been in Noblesville for 45 years and has cultivated a steady customer base. While the construction has decreased the number of people walking into the store, most flower orders are made over the phone and that has remained steady, Hernandez said.

The store is also fortunate that it has a parking lot behind it and a church lot next to it that customers can use, as well as a back door public entrance.

“We’ve been here a long time so we are getting the business we need and it is not killing us,” Hernandez said. “We are letting customers know they can still get the the parking in the back.”

Several businesses have tried to let customers know how to manage the work zone through their social media accounts.

Jill Dolak, owner of Noblesville Antiques on the Square, posted a video on the the business's Facebook page in which she gives a walking tour to illustrate which sidewalks and streets are open.

Though she described the construction as a “hot mess,” Dolak said her business hasn’t been hurt, mostly because it doesn’t face Conner Street but is on 9th Street a few doors north.

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She said she has heard few gripes from customers.

“It’s not like they are saying ‘Oh, this is terrible there’s no way to get around,’” she said. “It’s six blocks. Some of them even go there and look at it, like an attraction.”

Dolak said the sidewalk closures can be confusing because the large street barriers give the impression that all passage is prohibited and the sidewalk clearance is so narrow.

“They definitely could use better signage,” she said.

In addition, access sometimes changes. At the Southwest corner of 9th and Conner, the sidewalk has been closed after having been opened, causing the shop at the corner, the Annex, to temporarily close early this week, Dolak said.

“Now they’ve got detours for detours,” Dolak said.

Conner Street is just one of two ongoing major street projects near downtown; Pleasant Street is also undergoing a major overhaul.

Dubbed Reimagine Pleasant Street, the $113 million rebuilding will add roundabouts from State Road 37 to Hague Road, and bridges over the White River and Cicero Creek. The White River bridge and the project's first phase from River Road to 11th Street is scheduled to be finished and open by the end of 2024. The final two phases should be completed by the end of 2025.

On Allisonville Road the Hamilton County Highway Department is building a $44 million roundabout and overpass intersection at 146th Street. The construction has closed Allisonville to all traffic around the project until the end of May.

And Fishers will begin building a roundabout intersection at State Road 37 and 141st Street at summer’s end. The crossing will be the last of several converted to roundabouts on State Road 37 in a $160 million project that makes the road an expressway-style thoroughfare from 116th Street to 146th Street.

The intersection is scheduled to be finished at the end of 2025.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on X/ Twitter and Facebook .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'A hot mess': Downtown construction roils Noblesville streets